I've kept rat snakess on aspen and carefresh primarily, but recently made the switch to sani chips. I like substrates that clump to fecal waste and dry it so I can spot clean rather than changing out a whole smelly sheet of newspaper. This is especially true with rat snakes considering how much some of mine poop.

I like the sani chips better than anything else I've used so far, but they're so small that they stick to thawed rodents like crazy. I've tried feeding on a piece of newspaper or in a hide, but some of my snakes drag their food around and still get chips stuck to it. It's not so convenient for me to pull them all out to feed in a substrate-less container considering all the time that takes to go through the whole collection.

Is there some other clumping substrate I should try that I wouldn't have to worry about the snakes ingesting? Or am I just being too cautious about them occasionally swallowing some sani chips? If they can digest mouse bones and bird beaks, I wouldn't think a few small pieces of wood would cause them too much trouble but I've been very careful to avoid testing that idea so far.

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